For me, it’s standards, and how far they’ve dropped aside from the promotion and Championship season under Bowyer since 2015. I wasn’t there today, so going to take everyone’s comments re; JFC at face value, but it seems after a 25 minute cameo, everyone’s saying he’s head and shoulders above everyone else and we should be handing him a contract for next season.
He may be head and shoulders above the rest of them, but the rest of them, are pretty naff.
A couple of comments really resonated with me on here. One about Washington and Stockley being wasteful and questioning whether or not they are good enough to lead us to promotion. I agree. I like both of them. Both work hard, care, they score some goals, but I don’t get Lyle Taylor or Yann Kermorgant type vibes from either.
I think the bar is pretty low given what we’ve been served up over the last few years, we try as hard as we can to make the case for what are a bunch of pretty average players.
I have picked up from today’s comments on here we created more chances and should’ve won. That may be the case, but we’re still coughing and spluttering to wins, losing to better teams and making hard work of the Burton’s and Gillingham’s of this world.
How people see a way forward with even the so called better players in this squad is beyond me.
Unless we have wholesale changes this summer and to an extent, some sort of seismic shift in mindset to be more ruthless, top to bottom, nothing will change, and it’s not about Aneke being fit for next season or JFC getting a new contract. The building needs demolishing and a brand new set of builders needs bringing in
For me, it’s standards, and how far they’ve dropped aside from the promotion and Championship season under Bowyer since 2015. I wasn’t there today, so going to take everyone’s comments re; JFC at face value, but it seems after a 25 minute cameo, everyone’s saying he’s head and shoulders above everyone else and we should be handing him a contract for next season.
He may be head and shoulders above the rest of them, but the rest of them, are pretty naff.
A couple of comments really resonated with me on here. One about Washington and Stockley being wasteful and questioning whether or not they are good enough to lead us to promotion. I agree. I like both of them. Both work hard, care, they score some goals, but I don’t get Lyle Taylor or Yann Kermorgant type vibes from either.
I think the bar is pretty low given what we’ve been served up over the last few years, we try as hard as we can to make the case for what are a bunch of pretty average players.
I have picked up from today’s comments on here we created more chances and should’ve won. That may be the case, but we’re still coughing and spluttering to wins, losing to better teams and making hard work of the Burton’s and Gillingham’s of this world.
How people see a way forward with even the so called better players in this squad is beyond me.
Unless we have wholesale changes this summer and to an extent, some sort of seismic shift in mindset to be more ruthless, top to bottom, nothing will change, and it’s not about Aneke being fit for next season or JFC getting a new contract. The building needs demolishing and a brand new set of builders needs bringing in
He was ok, but let’s not go overboard, he didn’t have to be that good to be better than what we’ve been seeing. He’s not the answer to our troubles let’s put it that way. Someone said they thought he was up to speed already, I thought he looked a bit slow without the ball in respect to keeping up with the game, he was tidy on the ball though. Yet again how can we even think about relying on him with his injury record, not his fault but we can’t. I don’t see him and Dobbo in the same team, teams with better athletes would run away from them.
So for their first goal who is at fault for leaving their player totally unmarked on the lhs? CBT? He is the wingback but stood and watched all the play till they scored? I am not singling him out just not sure who should be picking the player up as to me it looked like shocking defending?
McG made a weak attempt to save the 1st goal could do nothing with the 2nd, Don't think the ball was over the line, Marquis had his usual brain fade to allow Stockers to nod home. Washington trying to trap a ball between his chest and the ground was stuff of Hackney Marshes 30yrs ago. Gibley being sent off was just plain stupid,(has stood up and apologised). Fraser good in flashes, Leko nicking his usual weeks money. HMS Piss-the League is now having her bottom scraped, ready for next year. The band wagon has been traded in for something more economical.
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
For the starting 11: GK, ball-playing RCB, ball-playing LCB, mobile RWB, dominant CM, Striker x2, along with backup for LCB, CB, Attacking CM, LWB. If you get high quality players for the starting 11, playing consistently, then they will start to form the kind of partnerships that would allow us to be more incisive and ruthless in attack. I don't think that we'll get what we need, however.
So for their first goal who is at fault for leaving their player totally unmarked on the lhs? CBT? He is the wingback but stood and watched all the play till they scored? I am not singling him out just not sure who should be picking the player up as to me it looked like shocking defending?
The defending for their first goal was unbelievable - they were allowed all the time in the world before getting a shot in. Genuinely have no idea what our players were doing...
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
For the starting 11: GK, ball-playing RCB, ball-playing LCB, mobile RWB, dominant CM, Striker x2, along with backup for LCB, CB, Attacking CM, LWB. If you get high quality players for the starting 11, playing consistently, then they will start to form the kind of partnerships that would allow us to be more incisive and ruthless in attack. I don't think that we'll get what we need, however.
Do you think we will attract or.get those type of players?
Another long long day, 12 hours in total from leaving home and getting back. Good points, went to the club shop and bought £70 worth of clothes for £19..result! Met up with @DaveStorry and a few others, in the ground. As for the game once again we didn't take our numerous chances and fell to defeat, positives for me were seeing JF-C back, CBT was excellent and despite what others think I thought Washington played well. I like Gilbey, but fuck me what the he'll was he doing??? As for the rest of the game...nothing else to say. Mind you I had to smile on the way back home I stopped at Newport Pagnell services, and saw an extremely pissed off and disgruntled Chelsea fan...he had a face like a slapped arse and was stomping around like a little kid..despite being in his mid 30's I guess! Made my day a little better!!
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
For the starting 11: GK, ball-playing RCB, ball-playing LCB, mobile RWB, dominant CM, Striker x2, along with backup for LCB, CB, Attacking CM, LWB. If you get high quality players for the starting 11, playing consistently, then they will start to form the kind of partnerships that would allow us to be more incisive and ruthless in attack. I don't think that we'll get what we need, however.
Do you think we will attract or.get those type of players?
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
For the starting 11: GK, ball-playing RCB, ball-playing LCB, mobile RWB, dominant CM, Striker x2, along with backup for LCB, CB, Attacking CM, LWB. If you get high quality players for the starting 11, playing consistently, then they will start to form the kind of partnerships that would allow us to be more incisive and ruthless in attack. I don't think that we'll get what we need, however.
Do you think we will attract or.get those type of players?
There first goal highlites are problems defending. 4players attempted to tackle the Licoln player in our area with the ball and failed. It then ran totbe goal scorer and no one attempted to close him down the game also emphasised wht we have 101 yellow cards. Players not upto the skill levels of their opponents.
Good points about today were that Jake Forster Caskey is so much better than Gilbey all day long at being a creative midfielder. Gilby got sent off because he’s not quick enough.Nor for that matter is Matthews, Purrington, Stockley. Corey and George and Washington and Jake are the kind of players that we need to build on. Conor, Although he missed loads, he creates his own chances and he’s great at taking a ball from long range so I have no problem and nor should he at the chances he missed today because they were largely of his own making. Yes it was disappointing today especially when Leko lost his man for the second goal and you have a tired and slow Matthews trying to catch his man and failing. George Dobson cannot be the only person who catches his man and tackles if we are to win games regularly.So yes Forster caskey is the big positive news of today as I think if we had started with him the outcome may well have been different.
Matthews was replaced by Leko, so not his fault for the second goal
I'm afraid it was Leko's fault. I saw him ambling back on Quest.
Good points about today were that Jake Forster Caskey is so much better than Gilbey all day long at being a creative midfielder. Gilby got sent off because he’s not quick enough.Nor for that matter is Matthews, Purrington, Stockley. Corey and George and Washington and Jake are the kind of players that we need to build on. Conor, Although he missed loads, he creates his own chances and he’s great at taking a ball from long range so I have no problem and nor should he at the chances he missed today because they were largely of his own making. Yes it was disappointing today especially when Leko lost his man for the second goal and you have a tired and slow Matthews trying to catch his man and failing. George Dobson cannot be the only person who catches his man and tackles if we are to win games regularly.So yes Forster caskey is the big positive news of today as I think if we had started with him the outcome may well have been different.
Matthews was replaced by Leko, so not his fault for the second goal
I'm afraid it was Leko's fault. I saw him ambling back on Quest.
I saw Leko not tracking back from the Curbs stand.
I've not been impressed across the season, but today Matthews had a decent game. Minutes after he was subbed, we scored down that side
So for their first goal who is at fault for leaving their player totally unmarked on the lhs? CBT? He is the wingback but stood and watched all the play till they scored? I am not singling him out just not sure who should be picking the player up as to me it looked like shocking defending?
Exactly, which is why I don't like the formation, with the players we have available. If we had a 4-4-2 I'm confident Purrington at left back would have been goal side of their goal scorer who collected the ball in too much space.
The 2nd goal came from Leko (not a defender, not much of anything tbh) diving in, losing the tackle and leaving us wide open and the player to run once again into the empty full back space. Clare running over to try and fill the void.
So many goals conceded by getting in behind the "wing backs". It doesn't work with the players we have and he is going to continue playing it until he is sacked.
Central midfield is over run and outnumbered nearly every game. I have little confidence we will mount a challenge next season, unless we get in some substantially better players.
Nothing to do with having better defenders or strikers IMHO as the shape and tactics leave us exposed time and time again at the back and to slow going forward as we concentrate on playing sideways.
Were there defenders better than ours? No. We're they better organised? Yes.
We are to slow and never attack any space, we are just to rigid
We don't have the players to play 3-5-2 so why are we playing that formation?
Because Jackson is building towards next season.
Do you think that style and speed of football will get you promoted?
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
For the starting 11: GK, ball-playing RCB, ball-playing LCB, mobile RWB, dominant CM, Striker x2, along with backup for LCB, CB, Attacking CM, LWB. If you get high quality players for the starting 11, playing consistently, then they will start to form the kind of partnerships that would allow us to be more incisive and ruthless in attack. I don't think that we'll get what we need, however.
Do you think we will attract or.get those type of players?
Not with the needed quality, no.
So more of the same next season then
So let’s change the formation back to Adkins 4-3-3 and problem solved! Why didn’t anyone think of it sooner?
You complain in an earlier post of the “speed and style of football”. My counter to that is the 18 chances for a shot on goal that were created.
I’m seeing this opinion persisting lately and I just can’t agree with it at all. The football isn’t the best I’ve ever seen but it’s not the worst either - and I’m inclined to pin the negatives on the players rather than the tactics.
Having said all that, I’d far rather this than a midfield of Crofts and Foley under Russell Slade.
So for their first goal who is at fault for leaving their player totally unmarked on the lhs? CBT? He is the wingback but stood and watched all the play till they scored? I am not singling him out just not sure who should be picking the player up as to me it looked like shocking defending?
I’ve watched the clip back. Hear me out… it’s Clare’s fault for diving in and trying to win the ball earlier in the sequence instead of holding his man up.
When you’re playing three at the back against three forwards like we were today, you have to take one man each.
When Clare dives in and doesn’t get the ball, Lavelle has to come across to cover, then Purrington has to leave his man on the far side to cover the man Lavelle was on.
That’s how Whittaker ended up with all that space.
After that, the attempted ‘tackles’ by both Purrington and Gilbey were poor to say the least. Gilbey has previous, diving out of the way of a shot that Oxford scored from a few weeks ago.
So for their first goal who is at fault for leaving their player totally unmarked on the lhs? CBT? He is the wingback but stood and watched all the play till they scored? I am not singling him out just not sure who should be picking the player up as to me it looked like shocking defending?
Exactly, which is why I don't like the formation, with the players we have available. If we had a 4-4-2 I'm confident Purrington at left back would have been goal side of their goal scorer who collected the ball in too much space.
The 2nd goal came from Leko (not a defender, not much of anything tbh) diving in, losing the tackle and leaving us wide open and the player to run once again into the empty full back space. Clare running over to try and fill the void.
So many goals conceded by getting in behind the "wing backs". It doesn't work with the players we have and he is going to continue playing it until he is sacked.
Central midfield is over run and outnumbered nearly every game. I have little confidence we will mount a challenge next season, unless we get in some substantially better players.
No doubt that Leko should have done far better in the challenge that led to the 2nd goal but it’s obvious we had thrown caution to the wind by that point.
We had four clean sheets in five coming into the game playing this formation while MacGillivray is in the top six for clean sheets this season. It’s weaknesses are not often exploited but you are prone to looking silly when someone does score.
Fair play to him. It was dumb. But the number of people calling him a c in the match thread for getting sent off was way over the top.
Will give him a little bit of credit as long as he strips these stupid fouls from his game. It’s hollow otherwise.
This squad has got itself a reputation for being a bit brain dead on the pitch and AG is one of the worst offenders.
He's been given credit. They were his third and fourth stupid and careless booking since February (Wimbledon and Bolton). We can't waste a shirt on idiots like Gilbey. He goes missing half the time too, so please get shot of him.
Comments
Washington trying to trap a ball between his chest and the ground was stuff of Hackney Marshes 30yrs ago.
Gibley being sent off was just plain stupid,(has stood up and apologised). Fraser good in flashes, Leko nicking his usual weeks money.
HMS Piss-the League is now having her bottom scraped, ready for next year. The band wagon has been traded in for something more economical.
How many players does JJ need to make 3-5-2 work and do you think he will get them?
Good points, went to the club shop and bought £70 worth of clothes for £19..result!
Met up with @DaveStorry and a few others, in the ground.
As for the game once again we didn't take our numerous chances and fell to defeat, positives for me were seeing JF-C back, CBT was excellent and despite what others think I thought Washington played well.
I like Gilbey, but fuck me what the he'll was he doing???
As for the rest of the game...nothing else to say.
Mind you I had to smile on the way back home I stopped at Newport Pagnell services, and saw an extremely pissed off and disgruntled Chelsea fan...he had a face like a slapped arse and was stomping around like a little kid..despite being in his mid 30's I guess! Made my day a little better!!
I saw him ambling back on Quest.
I've not been impressed across the season, but today Matthews had a decent game. Minutes after he was subbed, we scored down that side
If we had a 4-4-2 I'm confident Purrington at left back would have been goal side of their goal scorer who collected the ball in too much space.
The 2nd goal came from Leko (not a defender, not much of anything tbh) diving in, losing the tackle and leaving us wide open and the player to run once again into the empty full back space.
Clare running over to try and fill the void.
So many goals conceded by getting in behind the "wing backs".
It doesn't work with the players we have and he is going to continue playing it until he is sacked.
Central midfield is over run and outnumbered nearly every game.
I have little confidence we will mount a challenge next season, unless we get in some substantially better players.
Nope
You complain in an earlier post of the “speed and style of football”. My counter to that is the 18 chances for a shot on goal that were created.
When you’re playing three at the back against three forwards like we were today, you have to take one man each.
When Clare dives in and doesn’t get the ball, Lavelle has to come across to cover, then Purrington has to leave his man on the far side to cover the man Lavelle was on.
That’s how Whittaker ended up with all that space.
After that, the attempted ‘tackles’ by both Purrington and Gilbey were poor to say the least. Gilbey has previous, diving out of the way of a shot that Oxford scored from a few weeks ago.
We had four clean sheets in five coming into the game playing this formation while MacGillivray is in the top six for clean sheets this season. It’s weaknesses are not often exploited but you are prone to looking silly when someone does score.